Post Game Thought: Boston Celtics vs Toronto Raptors

3 wins in a row, let’s plan the parade!!!!

Great game to watch, entertaining and great effort from the Raps. As Bargnani noted in his half time interview, the Celtics is the better team, but they didn’t win the game tonight. The Raptors won their first game against the Celtics since early 2008.

Toronto: Bargnani continued his good streak, very aggressive on offense, getting to the line a lot. He got 29 points when the Raptors had an 11 point lead, but the Celtics just denied him the ball and make other players beat them after that. I harped on Bargnani quite a bit but today he is good despite the lack of rebounds again. Garnett tried to intimidate him, but Bargnani stayed locked in. Amir Johnson made the big free throws to give the team the win. Sound like a broken record, but Amir is very good if he can stay on the floor. He has improved his FT shooting and his jump shot. He has great hands and can catch everything around the rim. Barbosa did a great job as a backup PG in the 2nd quarter, not trying to go 1 on 5 like usual. The team struggled in the 4th quarter; the Celtics defense is just way too good in the half court. They denied the ball to guys they don’t want to score, while daring the others to shoot away. Weems fell into that trap several times; he has 16 points in 20 FG attempts with 0 free throw attempts. When he get to the basket, he score, but he can’t do it if he is shooting jumpers. Overall, it’s a solid team effort, the Raptors played hard, get to the line and be physical with the Celtics. Most importantly, they never backed down. One dumb obvious thought on this team: If Nash can be the PG for the Raptors, they would win a lot of games. They have two great athletes on the wing, who can get up the floor fairly quickly. A big guy that can hit the 3, and a big that can run the floor and finish (not Reggie Evans). Nash is a guy who could score on the half court as well. Oh well, I will dream on…
Boston: This game is prime example to show that Rajon Rondo is the most important player for this team. Nate Robinson had a great start scoring the ball, but he couldn’t create for others. Rondo can get into the paint and create havoc there. Nate’s defense isn’t all that good either, while Rondo is the best defensive PG in the league. It’s really sad to watch Shaq right now. If Jermaine O’Neal/Perkins is healthy, I doubt Shaq would get a lot of minutes in this game. The Celtics should pick up another wing defender, they could use someone like Tony Allen.

One note about the new Technical calls from the NBA: Please scrap it. The game is much worse off because of it.